Hothouse Earth is excited to share a special cross-podcast from the New Books Network, featuring over 15,000 interviews with authors about their latest books. Last month, New Books Network host Stephen Pimpare, professor of Public Policy at Vermont Law and Graduate School, spoke with J. Mijin Cha, assistant professor of Environmental Studies at UC Santa Cruz and Vermont Law and Graduate School’s Distinguished Energy Law Summer Scholar this year. Cha discusses her book, A Just Transition for All: Workers and Communities for a Carbon-Free Future. To meet the greenhouse gas emissions reductions needed to stave off the worst impacts of climate change, a transition away from fossil fuels must occur, as quickly as possible. But there are many unknowns when it comes to moving from theory to implementation for such a large-scale energy transition, to say nothing of whether this transition will be “just.” In A Just Transition for All: Workers and Communities for a Carbon-Free Future (MIT Press, 2024), J. Mijin Cha—a seasoned climate policy researcher who also works with advocacy organizations and unions—offers a comprehensive analysis of how we can actualize a just transition in the U.S. context and enact transformational changes that meaningfully improve people’s lives. Cha provides a novel governance framework called the “Four+ Pillars,” formulated from original research to provide a way to move from theory to practice. The “Pillars” framework includes a novel analysis that guides readers in understanding how to formulate effective just transition policies, what makes them just or unjust, and, similarly, what makes transition just and unjust. The framework also combines theoretical discussions with original empirical research and provides insights into perceptions of just transition. Grounded in real-world perspectives that make the case for policies that advance a just transition for all, not just fossil fuel workers, Cha charts the path forward to an equitable and sustainable future that no longer depends on fossil fuels.

Co-hosts Mia Montoya Hammersley, director of the Environmental Justice Clinic at VLGS, and Savannah Collins JD/MCEP’26 speak with Elizabeth (Lizzie) Lewis, senior associate at Eubanks and Associates, about NEPA and the recent D.C. Circuit decision in Marin Audubon Society v. FAA.

Guest host Christophe Courchesne talks to Sean Donahue, a partner at Donahue, Goldberg, and Herzog, and Bob Percival, director of the Environmental Law Program and the Robert F Stanton Professor of Law at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, in the second of two episodes about U.S. Supreme Court rulings this last term that upended administrative law and threaten to diminish environmental protections.

Guest host, Christophe Courchesne talks to Sean Donahue, a partner at Donahue, Goldberg, and Herzog, and Bob Percival, director of the Environmental Law Program and the Robert F Stanton Professor of Law at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, about the Supreme Court rulings this year that have diminished environmental protections.

The Farmed Animal Advocacy Clinic addresses animal issues in the fight for environmental protection. Listen to Laura Fox chat with host Laura Ireland about the Clinic, which is part of the Animal Law and Policy Institute at Vermont Law and Graduate School, and the accomplishments of the year.

Join guest host Fran Miller, senior staff attorney and adjunct faculty, and her guest, Mavis Gragg, CEO of HeirShares, as they discuss her work empowering families to use real estate as a source for intergenerational resiliency and wealth, and her work building groundbreaking technology to facilitate affordable solutions for family real estate ownership.

Listen to Robert Percival, director of the Environmental Law Program, Robert F. Stanton Professor of Law at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, chat with host Laura Ireland about the possibility of states using tort litigation to make oil companies accountable for their role in climate change misinformation.

Listen to Gina Warren, Professor of Law, A.L. O'Quinn Chair in Environmental Studies, Co-director of the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources Center (EENR), University of Houston Law Center, and Distinguished Energy Law Summer Scholar at VLGS discuss the environmental justice and energy concerns of indoor cannabis cultivation with host Laura Ireland and co-host Laurie Beyranevand.

Listen to Cale Jaffe, professor of law and director of the Environmental Law and Community Engagement Clinic at University of Virginia School of Law, chat about the Supreme Court's ruling on Sackett v. EPA and his idea of climate whisperers.